Welcome to The MHB Podcast. This is Michael Baun. And welcome to my 108th episode. In this episode I want to take apart the idea of Christmas and uncover what it’s all about. Christmas has become a tradition that is celebrated both religiously and culturally. Christians celebrate the holiday primarily because it commemorates the birthday of Jesus Christ. Non-Christians also celebrate Christmas by spending time with family and exchanging gifts. The mythical character Santa Claus is the central actor of many different Christmas narratives today. The tradition of exchanging gifts on Christmas has resulted in the holiday becoming a major driver of commercial markets. This boost in sales gave rise to two other days being named Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Throughout the holiday season it’s not uncommon for secularists and religious people to dispute over the true meaning of Christmas. So let’s go back to the beginning and walk through history to the present moment. I won’t be able to cover every detail of the story in the scope of this episode – but my goal is to leave you with a general understanding of where Christmas comes from, what it means, and how it developed into what it is today.
So the obvious question is what is Christmas celebrating? The answer is the birth of Jesus Christ – and the history proves that this is not debatable. A popular Roman cult had already imbued December 25th with significance but Christmas itself never existed as something else before it was a celebration of Christ. But what’s also true and non-debatable given the history is that from the very first Christmases human beings have used the holiday as a time to celebrate vice and temptation. So, like everything else humanity explores, we see something like a tale of two Christmases. There was Christmas the way it ought to be, and then there was Christmas the way it actually was. Even our best efforts to commemorate the birth of our Lord have never been immune to the fallen nature of reality. This is comforting in a strange way because it allows us to see that there isn’t anything particularly pernicious about our own generation and the way we commercialize the holiday.
The evidence for celebrating the birth of Christ can be chased back to Julius I, Bishop of Rome. This would be between 337-352 A.D. So nearly 1,700 years ago. The Roman clergy decreed that Christ’s nativity was to be celebrated on December 25th. The Bible is silent on the date of Christ’s birth so it’s impossible to know the exact time. It’s likely that the Romans chose this date out of an attempt to tie it to the winter solstice, which was the shortest day of the year. Among the symbolic significance of this is the idea that each day after the birth of Christ brought more light into the world. Another advantage to choosing December 25th was that many Romans were already used to celebrating this date. Prior to Constantine adopting Christianity as the official religion of Rome, many Romans worshiped the Mithraic cult-god Sol Invictus. Mithras or Deus Sol Invictus meant god of the unconquered sun. Much of the population were already adjusted to celebrating the birth of Mithras on December 25th so using that date to celebrate Christ’s birth made for a smooth transition.
The first Christmas day might have been the year 336. And what’s interesting is that sometime before 389 the Archbishop of Constantinople issued warnings against the excessive drinking and dancing that was occurring on the holy day. So not even 50 years had gone by since the holiday was instituted and many were already using it as an occasion for irreverence. This is why I tell people not to feel so bad about the trajectory of Christmas today – the carnal vices of humanity are definitely not unique to our own generation.
The first nativity scene is commonly attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi and this would have been in the year 1223. The holiday had increasingly become about feasting and entertainment. The nativity scene was an attempt to return the focus of Christmas to the celebration of the birth of Christ. By the end of the Middle Ages much of Europe maintained Christmas as a religious festival. But rather than ritual overwhelming pastime, the religious aspect of Christmas began to blend with the more secular characteristics of feasting and gift-giving.
It’s a common misunderstanding that the Christmas tree emerged from paganism. The truth is that the practice of putting up Christmas trees likely stems from two legendary tales fueled by Germanic theatrical drama. The first is of Saint Boniface. Legend held that Saint Boniface heard of a human sacrifice that was planned under an oak tree sacred to the god Thor. In a fit of rage, Boniface chopped down the oak tree and replaced it with a small fir – its evergreen branches representing Christ’s eternal truth. The second legend told of a Bishop of Bamberg who witnessed apple trees miraculously blossoming on Christmas Eve. Couple these legends with what were known in Germany as paradise plays and you would have had fertile ground for the concept to grow. The opening scene of a paradise play was Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden – the tree of knowledge represented by an evergreen fir with apples tied to its branches.
Paradise plays fell out of popularity but the trees did not. They would be erected in public places throughout Germany on wooden platforms that were surrounded by candles and ornaments. Eventually the platforms disappeared and the candles and ornaments were tied directly onto the trees themselves. Fully decorated, public Christmas trees could be seen in German-speaking countries as early as the year 1419. Fast forward to 1605 and we see the first decorated tree brought indoors in Strasbourg. People decorated the trees with things like apples, wafers, tinsel, gingerbread, paper roses, and sugar ornaments. It was around this time that the trees were given the name Weinachtsbaum – or Christmas tree. The custom only gained ground from there. Upper-class Protestant Christians began putting Christmas trees in their homes and the trend worked its way down the social ladder to rural areas.
The earliest Christmas music can be tracked back to the fourth century – almost as old as Christmas itself. These were songs written by clergy concerning the theological implications of the nativity. The practice of Caroling had more of a secular flavor, in 12th century France carols were about spring and were often paired with dancing. But it was in this same century that the first true Christmas carol, Veni Emmanuel, was likely written. The Moravian Brethren, who were one of the oldest Protestant denominations, brought Christmas carols with them to America from Germany in 1741. It was the Germans who wrote Silent Night in 1820 – a song that is widely regarded as the most famous Christmas carol today. We owe a significant portion of our modern Christmas traditions to these Moravian Christians.
The practice of gift-giving is nearly as old as Christmas itself. But the gifts had classically been given up the social hierarchy and usually they waited until the New Year. So a good example would be a member of the congregation giving a gift to his or her Bishop. It was also common for tenants to give gifts to their landlords. You get the idea. But as Christmas evolved, gift-giving began to look like generosity down the social hierarchy. This shift is what ushered in the practice of parents giving gifts to their children. It didn’t take long for parents to understand the advantages of gift-giving to their children. It was an effective way to inculcate their own values into their children. Gifts functioned well as expressions of parental love. For better or worse, being able to purchase gifts for your children became symbolic of parental success. One of the earliest advertisements for a Christmas gift was printed in Britain in 1728 – it was an anodyne necklace made for a teething baby.
Books were incredibly popular as Christmas gifts, they were the subject of the earliest Christmas advertisements in America. By 1770 newspapers began advertising all sorts of items like jewelry, snuffboxes, toothpick cases, and chess boards as proper Christmas gifts. People didn’t start wrapping the presents until the middle of the 19th century. One of the main causes behind wrapping paper was actually gas-lighting and coal fires. Gas lights were brighter and easier to use but they left behind a sticky residue on everything. They also damaged textiles, metals, and colored dyes. The soot from the coal fires stuck to the residue making daily cleaning something approximating a nightmare. Thank God for electricity. So wrapping paper was used to protect the gifts until Christmas. Gift-giving turned out to be much more fun that way because it added the elements of mystery and anticipation.
When it comes to figuring out who gets the credit for the classic American family Christmas, many people point to Charles Dickens. He wrote A Christmas Carol in 1843 and this work is often described as the book that invented Christmas. A Christmas Carol cast the vision of the family hearth, of charity, of fires cooking the Christmas dinner, and of children being the beneficiaries of celebration. Listen to this excerpt from A Christmas Carol. This is what Scrooge’s nephew Fred tells him about Christmas:
It is a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!
So we’re beginning to see a picture of how Christmas developed into the holiday we know today. Now let’s talk about Santa Claus. Some people try to chase Santa Claus all the way back to Saint Nicholas. Saint Nicholas was an ancient Mediterranean Bishop in the maritime city of Myra. I suppose you could trace his legend throughout Europe and watch it evolve across time. But the Saint Nicholas of antiquity bears little resemblance to the Santa Claus we all know today. I think one of the reasons people make the connection is because Washington Irving made it in his 19th century revisions to A History of New York. He pictured Saint Nicholas soaring over treetops in a flying wagon, an invention which others dressed up as Santa Claus.
Santa’s first appearance was in 1820. By 1823 Clement Clarke Moore had named the reindeer. But Rudolph wouldn’t be born until 1939, just as America was about to fall into World War II. Rudolph was a commercial innovation by the copywriter Robert L. May – who worked for the retail chain Montgomery Ward. They produced pamphlets that followed Clement Clarke Moore’s reindeer rhythms and told the story of Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer.
As for the jolly old man dressed in red who is the iconic image of Santa – we owe that to the political cartoonist Thomas Nast whose work dates to the later half of the 19th century. He was also the first one to use an elephant to represent the U.S. Republican Party. The illustrations of Thomas Nast were prominent in Harper’s Weekly, which was the nation’s most widely circulated magazine at the time. Many people read Harper’s Weekly for its extensive coverage of the American Civil War. This brought massive exposure to the image of Santa Claus and the sleigh-riding bringer of gifts has survived to this day.
Okay so that’s a basic flyover of the history of Christmas. Now I want to turn to the Bible and see what it has to say about the true meaning of Christmas – the celebration of Jesus Christ. There are many passages I could reference for the miraculous birth of Jesus and just exactly what it means for us. But I think the one of the best ones, oddly enough, is found in Isaiah – the book we’ve been working through together for quite some time. If you enjoy going to Christmas services you’ve likely heard this passage preached before. Listen to Isaiah 9:1-7:
Isa 9:1 But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.
Isa 9:2 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.
Isa 9:3 You have multiplied the nation; you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil.
Isa 9:4 For the yoke of his burden, and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian.
Isa 9:5 For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire.
Isa 9:6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Isa 9:7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.
This passage opens with a dark and depressed view of reality. For many people this is the truth of their Christmas. Instead of joy and laughter they are faced with the pain and tragedy of loved ones not being there anymore. Isaiah reminds us that God’s people always have hope regardless of how dark things get. Psalm 112 tells us that light dawns in the darkness for the upright – God is gracious, merciful, and righteous. If you trust in God you may be persecuted but never forsaken, you may be struck down but never destroyed. As followers of Christ we may be sorrowful but always rejoicing, we may be poor yet we make many rich, we may have nothing yet we possess everything. We take comfort in knowing that when things are at their darkest, He who forms the light and creates the darkness has already set the boundaries of both and foreordained the victory of light. This is what you should hold in your mind if Christmas is hard for you – the darkness will never exceed what God allows it to.
This passage of Isaiah promises three things to those who trust in God. A glorious light. A glorious increase. And a glorious liberty. All of these promises point to the grace of the gospel so I want to unpack each one. Understanding how Jesus takes us from darkness to light is central to the reason we celebrate Christmas.
First is a glorious light. The land of Zebulun and Naphtali were invoked as territory where darkness had struck. This area was remote and laid exposed to inroads from neighboring enemies. Galilee was also named as an area afflicted by spiritual darkness. This was probably a reference to the time in 2 Kings 10 when God made cuts to Israel from the coasts. God’s purpose for nipping away at Israel was to get their attention so they might humble themselves and begin reformation. This is often the case with us as well – God will slowly and lightly afflict us to steer us back into the proper direction. But if we ignore the gentle corrections we can expect to be afflicted more grievously.
So Zebulun, Naphtali, and Galilee all suffered dark times of spiritual dimness. The people in these territories weren’t speaking according to God’s law and there was no light in them. The suffered the anguish of deep confusion. They had cut themselves off from God and had lost all access to the priests who could teach them the law. As a result there was no peace for anyone and great disturbances afflicted the inhabitants of these lands. But Isaiah had good news for them: they didn’t have to fear suffering spiritual darkness to this degree in the future. The people who trusted God would find light, comfort, and direction in the form of prophecies. The Old Testament prophets were witnesses to Christ and so they were able to function as a type of Christ to the people who listened.
The full manifestation of this light, comfort, and direction appeared when Jesus Himself preached the gospel to Zebulun, Naphtali, and Galilee. In Matthew chapter 4 Jesus left Nazareth and lived in Capernaum which was in this same territory – thus Jesus fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy. When the people in this region heard the gospel it took them from darkness to light. They were in a state of mind where they had no idea what to do or where to go. Death hung over them like a thick shadow. When a person accepts the gospel at the level of their soul it’s like shining a great light in the darkness. As the light shines more and more the shadows are dispelled. It’s good for us to readily entertain the light and welcome it as we would if we were prisoners sitting in darkness. The light of Jesus is useful because it shows us where we are, where we should go, and it supplies its own evidence for us. The more you experience it the more you grow to trust it.
The next promise this passage offers is a glorious increase and a universal joy to arise from it. At some base level, a nation’s strength and wealth depends on its population. A nation that has numerous industrious individuals will be more secure than a nation that has been ravaged by a plague and left underpopulated. The Israelites were no strangers to the trials of seeing their population cut down by judgments. But God’s promise was to bring an increase to the nations and joy to the people.
When I speak about joy I don’t mean the same thing as happiness. You experience happiness when you get a promotion at work. You experience joy when you see your loved one get a promotion at work. The joy that the gospel brings is one that can reside in you fully independent of your circumstances. This is why Paul says we may be sorrowful but always rejoicing. It’s possible to be sad about your life or your challenges while remaining in the joy that emerges from realizing the grace of God. The joy that comes from the power of the gospel is spiritual joy – it operates on a deeper level than simple human emotion.
It’s important to notice the two examples of rejoicing that Isaiah provides. First is rejoicing as at the harvest. Second is rejoicing as when dividing the spoils of war. Both examples are meant to drive home the point that life is hard. Life is the difficult task of sowing seed before the harvest. Life is the battle before the war ends. Life is going to continue to be hard after you come to Christ. But you will experience joy on a spiritual level and this joy will burst forth in full color when you finish the race and pass on into eternity.
The third promise of this passage is glorious liberty. At the time Isaiah gave this prophecy, it was likely meant to comfort the people as they faced Sennacherib. It was God’s assurance to them that He would defeat the Assyrians Himself and rescue Jerusalem from the chains of slavery. But the promise of liberty looks ahead to the gospel as well. By design the gospel sets us free from slavery to sin and to Satan. Being saved by grace through faith in Jesus seals our adoption into the kingdom of God and rescues us from the burdens of guilt and corruption. God’s law was given to us to show us that we could never satisfy it on our own. The human condition is such that it’s not possible for us to make ourselves holy without God. This effort is what Jesus likened to fitting a camel through the eye of a needle – it’s just not possible.
When we understand the holiness of God and get a good look at our own broken condition, we’re left feeling helpless and hopeless. It’s like the sensation that nothing we do will ever be good enough. When your relationship with God looks like that, all you want to do is hide from Him like Adam did in the Garden of Eden. Trying to measure up to God on your own effort creates an unhealthy fear of Him. It’s like the opposite of trust and faith because being on eggshells makes you want to keep secrets from and attempt to deceive God. This is perhaps why those who are outside of the faith will prefer eternity separated from Him.
To face God without the reconciliation that comes through Christ is like a terrifying realization of your own iniquities. It’s similar to how people who have derailed their own lives prefer to deceive themselves about it rather than face the truth. The problem is that they can’t even begin to put themselves back together until they face the truth. For every one of us the truth is too difficult to bear without forgiveness. That’s why Jesus went to the cross. Jesus saved us from all of that. The gospel set us free from all of that so that we can be in the presence of God in perfect love and without fear.
And that really is what Christmas is all about. It’s a celebration of the light, the joy, and the liberty that was brought into the world through Jesus Christ. When Isaiah looked forward to the birth of Jesus he called Him Immanuel which means God with us. It’s interesting that even though Isaiah was speaking in prophetic style, he discussed the birth of Jesus in present tense, as if it had already happened. This is because Jesus has been with us from the foundation of the world. He is without beginning and without end. The Old Testament bears witness to the works of Jesus as the eternal Word – the Logos. From Adam and Eve to this very moment, every step of the way Christ has guided and preserved humanity as He unfolds His design of salvation.
He is the Everlasting Father. The incarnation of Jesus meant that mighty God became a child born. The ancient of days became a mere human infant. God lowered Himself so that He could take our nature upon His shoulders. He emptied Himself so that He could exalt and fill us. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. Listen to these verses in Luke chapter 2 where the Angel of the Lord announces His arrival:
Luk 2:8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
Luk 2:9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.
Luk 2:10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
Luk 2:11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
Christ’s being born and given to us is the foundation of our hope. Jesus is the fountain of our joy as we march forward in the midst of grief, fear, and a broken creation. Being both fully God and fully human, Jesus is invested with the highest honor and power. He’s God enough for us to worship Him. He’s human enough to be our friend. His name is the name above all names that has rippled through history and inspired people to build so much of what we know and love.
He is the Wonderful Counselor. His love is the wonder of angels and the inspiration of saints. Humanity has wondered at His birth, His life, His death, His resurrection, and His ascension. We continue to wonder at Him this day. The mystery of godliness concerning Jesus has been the source of wonder for ages. Jesus is our Wonderful Counselor because from Him has proceeded the counsels of God from eternity. He is the pre-eminent teacher of human kind because He is the very wisdom of the Father.
Jesus is the Mighty God. The omniscience of God is matched by His omnipotence – or His all-encompassing strength. He sacrificed Himself with the purity of a lamb but He protects us with the power of a lion. The task of saving humanity was so great that no less than God Himself could accomplish it. Being one with the Father and the Spirit, the Son is from everlasting to everlasting. Jesus is the author of everlasting life and the Father of the world to come. He is the designer of redemption and His heart has been set on you from before time itself.
Jesus is the Prince of Peace. Not only does He command peace and preserve peace – but His presence actually creates peace. Peace emanates from the name of Jesus. His peace is what settles on your mind and heart when you accept Him as your Lord and Savior. His peace rules sovereign in your life despite all the burning opposition. It’s true to describe Jesus and peaceful and good – but it’s more true to say that anything which is peaceful and good necessarily comes from Jesus. He is the center of gravity for all good things that are given, for all peace that is experienced in the present moment, and for the future bliss that awaits those who embrace Him.
The government shall rest on His shoulders. The incontestable power to govern belongs to God alone. Alone He undertakes it and alone He bears the burden of it. Moses represented humanity accurately when he complained of being unable to handle the people. Human beings have been saddled with the plague of corrupt power since time immemorial. It’s not possible for humanity to govern perfectly because we were never the true governor. Throughout history there have been empires we thought would go on forever – but at last they have tarnished into clay and dirt. The Word of God has outlasted dominant global powers and has expanded to be embraced by all the world. This growth will continue on into perfection and with God at the helm His Kingdom will last forever.
The leadership of Christ will not be submission to oppression like the leadership of humanity is. Only God is able to rule by love, because only God is able to rule from inside of your heart. This is why His Kingdom will be peaceful and in alignment with His character – because He will have shaped you into the person He always intended you to be. Subjection to Jesus means freedom from everything else. It puts your spirit at ease, ensures your ultimate safety, and liberates you from the chains of sin and death.
As impossible as it is for us to understand, the peace and happiness of the Kingdom of God will increase into eternity. This means it’s joy and goodness will grow and extend ad infinitum – forever. It’s like the best Christmas you’ve ever had made better and better each year with no end. The glory of the Redeemer and the redeemed will continue on eternally. This passage closes by reminding us that all of this will happen because God desires it to. The true meaning of Christmas is a celebration of the blessings of peace and joy – these spiritual conditions can be accessed no matter how tragic or difficult your circumstances are. That’s because true peace and true joy belongs to one source who is independent of everything else – and we honor Him each year that we give of ourselves to those we love and forgive the ones we don’t. We honor Him when we choose to love our neighbor as ourselves and give thanks to Him for each moment we treasure. That is the essence of what it means to follow Christ. That is the essence of Christmas.
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